Blizzard officially announces Diablo III is in the works for Windows and
Macintosh, confirming rampant speculation that a new installment in the popular
action/RPG series is the WWI game announcement they've been hinting at all week.
A release date is not being specified at this point, but there are details on
what to expect from the game, including 3D graphics, destructible environments,
a new quest system, a random level generator, and more. The
Diablo III Website is live,
offering screenshots, artwork, a cinematic teaser and a gameplay video, and
here's the press release:

PARIS - (Business Wire) Blizzard
Entertainment, Inc. today revealed Diablo® III, the newest entry in its
critically acclaimed action role-playing-game franchise. The announcement was
made during the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment® Worldwide Invitational at the Porte
de Versailles Convention Centre in Paris, France. A cinematic trailer and an
extended gameplay demonstration with commentary from the development team
introduced the game to the thousands of players in attendance.

“We’ve wanted to expand on the epic story and gameplay elements of the Diablo
universe for some time now,” stated Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard
Entertainment. “We know that players have also been long awaiting a return to
the series, so we’re very excited to be sharing this announcement with Blizzard
gamers here in Paris and around the world today.”

Diablo III will pick up the story twenty years after the events of Diablo II.
Mephisto, Diablo, and Baal have been defeated, but the Worldstone, which once
shielded the inhabitants of the world of Sanctuary from the forces of both the
High Heavens and the Burning Hells, has been destroyed, and evil once again
stirs in Tristram. Playing as a hero from one of five distinct character
classes, players will acquire powerful items, spells, and abilities as they
explore new and familiar areas of Sanctuary and battle hordes of demons to
safeguard the world from the horrors that have arisen. The first two characters
classes -- the barbarian and the witch doctor -- were shown as part of the
announcement at the event today in Paris.

Diablo III will feature a custom 3D-graphics engine to render lush indoor and
outdoor areas of Sanctuary with a high level of detail and vivid special
effects. The game’s physics-enhanced environments will be interactive and
destructible, offering traps and obstacles that create added danger for players
and monsters alike. These elements, along with a new quest system and random
scripted events, will be integrated into the game’s random-level generator,
giving Diablo III the ultimate combination of dynamic gameplay and
replayability. Cooperative and competitive play will be available online through
an upgraded version of Blizzard Entertainment’s renowned online gaming service,
Battle.net®.

Blizzard Entertainment is developing Diablo III for simultaneous release on the
Windows® and Macintosh® PC platforms. Further information about the game,
including details on the other character classes, major new features for the
single-player and multiplayer components, system requirements, pricing, and
availability, will be announced as development progresses. To learn more about
Diablo III, please visit the official website at www.diablo3.com. With multiple
games in development, Blizzard Entertainment has numerous positions currently
available. Visit http://www.blizzard.com/jobs for more information and to learn
how to apply.

Well, I use an iMac for many tasks, gaming is but one of them - it's a great computer. Since Blizzard is definitely developing for Mac, it would be nice to for them to develop for the small number of hardware configurations that are out there. Hell, most Mac owners are on MacBooks which have worse graphics hardware than my Radeon 2600. Also, I don't think the small Mac marketshare is going to do down in the coming years.

Thinking about it again, Spring 2010 is REALLY generous, since they're saying SC2 isn't coming out this year. It'll probably be much farther into the future before it's actually released and it's more certain my video card won't be supported by that point.